The Properties of Language

Lecture #2 LING 2301 Fall 2008

Do you remember?
What is Language (big-L)? What is a language (little-L)?

grammar

The systematic rules and patterns that govern linguistic behavior The body of knowledge that allows one to produce a particular language
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Grammar
A Body of Linguistic Knowledge
How to:
Combine sounds Create words Build sentences Construct texts Participate in conversations
Language is so built into the way people live that it has become an axiom of being human. --Bolton
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But, is thisLooking at Stepping Back: LANGUAGE??? Communication

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Core Properties of all Communication

Form

(various modalities)

Meaning Function
(purpose)

sign

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Analyze this Non-Linguistic Sign

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How About This Sign?

???

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Three Types of Signs

Iconic
Signifier (form) resembles signified (meaning)

Indexical
Signifier gives directional information

Arbitrary
No inherent relationship between form and meaning Q: If words are signs and they are what kind of sign are they?
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7 Design Features of Human Language

Arbitrariness Discreteness Duality Productivity Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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Arbitrariness
the connection between the signifier (form) and the signified (meaning) is arbitrary these arbitrary relationships are agreed upon by speakers, i.e. a matter of convention (consensus) even interjections and onomatopoetic signs are arbitrary ouaoua ~ bow-wow ~ mng-mng ~
signified

wan-wan

moon
signifier
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ae! ~ ouch! ~ aigo! ~ aiya!

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Arbitrariness

moon mahina

kuu

lua
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lune
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book shu

Arbitrariness

moo muu silent muu daikon muu

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shoe shu cabbage shu

additional

muu
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7 Design Features of Human Language

Arbitrariness Discreteness Duality Productivity Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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What is discrete vs. continuous? Discrete entities have clear boundaries; theyre units; categorical. Continuous entities dont have clear boundaries. Language is DISCRETE Language is made up structured units if
you have knowledge of the system! Otherwise, utterances can sound like continuous streams of sound, without discernible units.
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Discreteness

Color Test: How many do you see? Which set of colors is DISCRETE? color chart 1 vs. color chart 2

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7 Design Features of Human Language

Arbitrariness Discreteness Duality Productivity Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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7 Design Features of Human Language

Arbitrariness Discreteness Duality Productivity Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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Duality
Linguistic units have a dual nature:
1.They are observable physical events noise or image 2.They are more than simple physical events
They are produced in order to communicate meaning

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7 Design Features of Human Language

Arbitrariness Discreteness Duality Productivity Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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Productivity (a.k.a. Creativity)

How many utterances are there in a language? Humans are capable of unlimited expression. We routinely create and comprehend novel utterances. Rule Governed Creativity
An infinite number of utterances can be created by a limited number of rules / patterns.

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7 Design Features of Human Language

Arbitrariness Discreteness Duality Productivity Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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The Last Three Design

Features

Displacement

Cultural Transmission

We can communicate beyond the here and now We are not stimulus bound Grammars are transmitted from one generation to the next Acquiring a language requires involvement in a culture COMPARE Genetic Transmission of big-L Language
Each human is born with Language; its a biological instinct.

Interchangeability

All members of the community are physically capable of transmitting and receiving messages

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Focus on Sentences
Consider the following finite lexicon:
hugged saw laughed dog cat the a cute big baby we

*The we laughed a cute. *A a a baby cat dog the the. *Cat the hugged baby the.

Create two different sentences using only these words

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Which of the Following Strings are Grammatical?

a.

I shall speak to her tomorrow I shall her tomorrow speak.

spreken. Dutch

* b.

Ik zal haar morgen

* c.

Tomorrow her to speaking do shall.

ke-ege mal-ha-gessumnida. Korean

Naeil
* d.

Speak shall I with her tomorrow.

com ela amanh. Portuguese

Falar-ei

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What do we Mean by Grammatical?

Prescriptive Grammar (Prescriptively Grammatical)
The set of rules (or patterns) that are deemed to be the correct or proper way to use a language Set by members of the community that possess the power to enforce the rules: teachers, editors

Descriptive Grammar (Descriptively Grammatical)

The set of rules (or patterns) that characterize observed language behavior Determined by observing language users and extracting relevant generalizations
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Determine the Grammaticality of

Prescriptively Grammatical

Descriptively Grammatical

The student said that our dog saw A a cat.

Yes No No Yes No

Yes Yes Yes Yes No

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B What are you talking about?

They want to boldly go where C nobody has gone before. The brave little toaster jumped into D the lake to save the drowning duck.

E I shall her tomorrow speak.

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Grammaticality vs. Semantically Odd

*

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that each men created equal. The industrious bunnies baked a delicious cake for Mimis birthday. The red roses are yellow.
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Relationship between Prescription and Description

Universe of all word combinations in language X Combinations that speakers actually produce Combinations that are officially sanctioned by the authorities

Descriptively grammatical but prescriptively ungrammatical

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Descriptively ungrammatical but prescriptively grammatical

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Judging what is Good in Language

According to Algeo, Good Language:
Communicates something successfully Meets literary standards Is scholarly makes the language police happy Is logical
Who gets to judge what is good?
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Comparing Languages: Whos is

Better?
Do you have the right to say that somebody elses language is too hard or backwards or illogical or ugly? Yes! From a linguistic perspective, what makes language X better than language Y? Nothing! As Bolton says, Language is very fertile ground for ethnocentricity. Who gets to judge what is good?
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Muddiest Point
Before you leave class today, tell me what one point in todays lecture was the least clear? What concept do you find the hardest to get?

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